Parking changes coming to Clayton

CLAYTON, MO (KPLR) - Big changes are on the way for drivers who park in downtown Clayton.

The city is phasing in a plan that will take effect January 3rd, 2017.

Already, residents and visitors have noticed some differences. On-the-street parking has increased from $1 to $1.50 an hour.

The city has begun alerting residents and businesses about the new plan, which will also feature a phone parking app.

“You don’t have to go to a meter. You don’t have to go to a parking station. You simply pull up, pay for your parking and walk away,” Director of Economic Development Director Gary Carter said.

The app will go live January 3. An increase in parking violation fines will also be implemented that week.

One of them main objectives of the plan is to get drivers to take advantage of thousands of unused spaces.

“There’s a good number of unoccupied spaces that go each day,” Carter said. About 15,565 he said.

On any given day, between 35,000 and 46,000 visitors come to Clayton, Carter said.

“All kinds of people. You have people coming to the restaurants. You have people coming to the retail. You have people coming to the county. You have people going to the private businesses.”

Many of those people count on on-the-street-parking. Their daily routine involves repeated trips to the meter, or even moving the car to a different two-hour limit zone.

Anyone who parks for a few hours on a regular basis are encouraged to use the garages.

“This new system is to hopefully get them to move into a parking garage if they’re going to be here for 3, 4, 5, 6 hours during the day, and free up that space on the street for retail and restaurant customers,” Carter said.